Snap
by Ammanalien
Summary: Rodney couldn't let this undignified, corny scene be their last... McShep f.ship.  Oh, and the boys get whumped!
1. Chapter 1

_"Don't make me angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."_

oOo

Rodney thinks his heart will stop; seriously, though, it's going to stop - _please, God, let it stop_ - 'cos he knows he wants to die before he witnesses this.

The colonel is laughing in the face of the man who has him by the throat. Rodney sees his feet dangling, and he's reminded of a hanged man on the gallows. The colonel is shoved against the wall, breath whooshes out, someone grabs his left wrist... there is a metallic flash from the hand of another, and Rodney sees John's head whip around and down, eyes frantic, smile gone, as he watches the blade advance slowly.

Then, inside Rodney something snaps; horribly cliche, maybe, but he is aware of the exact moment it happens. The exact moment he stops being himself, and becomes the enraged friend of John Sheppard. He realises too, in that moment frozen in time, that another cliche has become flesh..._ he sees red._

Blood red fills his vision... murderous, malevolent... delicious.

Something's bust inside of him and is leaking messy death everywhere. Suddenly, he is certain, like he has never been before, that he is capable of taking life. Certain, too, that they haven't seen this coming.

They don't know what they've done, these minions of an unknown God, waking the sleeping tiger that is Dr Rodney McKay.

What does it matter, he has no weapon? Who cares if he's seriously outnumbered? Who's going to save them if not him?

Where it's come from, who knows... but Rodney's heard the call and answered with, _bring it on._

Behind his eyes, boils pure liquid rage, and it's green now, not red, and he almost grins when he recognises his own personal super-hero moment.

_And I always thought I'd be Batman..._

The hands that hold him feel loose, hardly there at all; Rodney thinks, _David Banner's goin' bye-bye._

He feels muscles bunch and swell... and he thinks he may need a new shirt after this.

Suddenly he is moving... he can't see much, but he thinks two old men are now on the floor. He drops, but pulls back and up at the last second, before he pokes out his eye on a candle stand. Somehow, in between one second and the next, the heavy iron is in his hands... it feels like one of Sheppard's golf clubs.

Okay, his swing needs some work, but he goes at it like a bull elephant would; he doesn't know how he's managing to whirl the thing around his head but connections are being made... heavy, soggy connections.

And all the while he's thinking, _Sheppard, knife, save him_, and he's so scared because he knows that a knife can move real quick, and that the colonel's helpless.

It's strange, because for the first time ever, he knows who he is; he thought he was a scientist and discovery was everything; he thought he was a genius, perfect logic was his religion; he thought he was an island, pushing back the outside world and the people in it.

His body becomes his own again, when, like a miracle, he is standing over the colonel, and out of the corners of his eyes he sees gowned figures scurrying away. He is breathless, but he feels like a _god_...

_Yeah, pump up the volume_, he thinks, and wonders where that crazy thought came from. However, it seems apt and he resists the temptation to beat his chest like Tarzan.

Sheppard is still, and that looks wrong, so wrong that Rodney immediately drops down, his hands flapping at the man, ineffectual but necessary.

"Sheppard? Sheppard? ", John rolls onto his bowed back like a flipped turtle, and then Rodney sees the blood.

It covers his belly, his chest, his hands... but it's springing from his wrist. They'd cut him... he wasn't in time...

Now he's channeling Dr Banner MD, and he likes to imagine his shirt is flapping around his muscular seventies-style chest and before he knows what he's doing, he's got his hand clamped around John's wrist and his fingers press through slippery, jagged edges, to meet bone. Sheppard yelps, but now Rodney's index finger is in place there'll be no moving it.

Rodney's on his knees, and he pushes up their locked hands, tying to lessen the _thump, thump_ against his finger.

They must look like two guys at a concert; their arms raised together, all that's missing is the crumby lighter, and the sound of "Freebird".

Along with the unmistakable clatter of mass exodus, he thinks he hears familiar voices shouting; Teyla, maybe... Lorne.

Still breathless, he wheezes out, "Help! Help.. here..."

Then he coughs, right in Sheppard's face and he thinks,_ sorry, buddy, say it don't spray it, right? _and he hardly notices that there's a red mist on Sheppard's pale eyelids.

A voice off to his left says, impatiently, "Get me a 'stat... come on.. come on...", and looking up Rodney sees a pair of shiny scissors appear, and they're waggling around their joined hands, glinting...

"Let go, Doctor.."

_That's Dr Banner to you, dumbass..._

"Rodney, let go", and this is so close to his right ear he winces.

He comes back to reality a little and sees that a crowd has gathered.

There's Teyla, and Ronon, and Lorne, and Carson..._ the gang's all here._

Carson was the one with the loud voice, and now the Scot is right in his face:

"We need to take care of you.. both of you... don't fight us, ma friend."

He is suddenly, hellishly tired so he decides to comply, "Oh... okay", he says, and looks down to see he really has lost his shirt.

_Cool..._

David Banner always had plenty of shirts... Rodney thinks he may have two others, but one has an acid burn and the other is a size too small.

The suction around his finger is gone, so he thinks Sheppard's been clamped, and whisked away. He brings the digit to his face and squints at it; it looks like he's had his hand in the jam pot.

Absently he wipes it on his shirt... but his shirt has gone, he remembers, torn off in his rage.

It's only then that he notices a pretty, pearl handle, sticking out of his chest; Carson grabs his hand and admonishes him, "No, no, no... that's not to come out yet, lad. Leave it to me, eh? Just for once..."

Then Rodney remembers:

Being captured, and trying to explain themselves... the priests hauling Sheppard off for a kind of ritual blood-letting; Rodney protesting and a sharp pain in his chest stealing his breath and almost stilling his heart; he hadn't thought the old guy would really use the knife, but he had.

He was being supported by two robed priests, as he and Sheppard had let their eyes meet. John had smiled at him, a smile so sad and full of regret.

And because Rodney couldn't let this undignified, corny scene be their last, he'd found some strength... some strength to save his friend.

There is a flurry of limbs, and Carson almost falls on top of him as he allows himself to drop back. Someone's hand flies to the back of his head, and he's glad he hasn't hit the cold, stone step. He looks up, blinking, and sees Teyla, shimmering with warm starlight, dressed as an angel, leaning over him.

_Wrong show, dear, wrong show..._

He thinks that's funny, but the laughter dies on his lips when searing hot pain just about takes his breath.

He hears Carson yelling in his ear again, and the last thing he sees before the darkness takes him, is the sad face of the angelic Teyla, and he thinks, miserably, _I never even liked that show..._

oOo

TBC maybe...?


	2. Chapter 2

I made some minor adjustments to chapter one - hope you don't mind - mostly it's because I never really intended for it to go to more than one chapter... too lazy, I admit it! Hopefully it will just help to unite the chaps together.

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* * *

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_"They crash him and his body may burn, they smash him but they know he'll return... to live again."_

oOo

They'd play Stingray in a grocery box. Jeannie always had to be Marina, that was a given; which always spoiled it for him, because Marina was so hot... even though she couldn't talk; but that just meant that he could always be Troy Tempest. Supermarionation was so cool...

Thunderbirds... of course. Classic.

Brains, with the huge glasses... not his favourite character, though; cool family... never argued, always shared Tin-Tin.

Lady Penelope.. not bad, wouldn't kick her out of bed.

Parker... the driver... like Radek in a toupee, _milady..._

Ooh... remember, Captain Scarlet? Mysterons like little haloes of light... Scarlet was good, Black was bad, Spectrum was... green... apparently.

Destiny Angel... his _first_ blonde pilot.

"_In-de-struct-i-ble.. Cap-tain Scar-let_...", he sang, "Come on, sing along, Brendan..."

But he realised then, that he was alone, and talking to... himself.

He could have sworn Brendan Gaul had been there, rolling his eyes, disagreeing with all his opinions. But Brendan was dead... up in heaven getting 'touched by an angel'... you know the one, Moira, Mary, Monica, _whoever_... lucky sap.

_He's fighting... they both are..._

Huh? Fighting, eh? Well, relationship's are hard, you have to work at them, or so he'd been told... and Gaul would not be the easiest person to live with... so uptight.

He'd seen an angel, hadn't he? Perhaps, then, he was dead too.

oOo

Voices:

_Went berserk... with a candle sconce. Killed two, almost decapitated one. _

_Did all that, with a four-inch blade in 'is lung..._

_Colonel Sheppard? He's... gone, I'm afraid... held on as long as he could..._

Alarmed, he took a breath, only then realising that it was the first he'd taken in a while.

Machines shrieked, there was something in his mouth.. his throat.. he gagged; he was going to thro-

"It's gone.. breathe easy, now", said Carson.

oOo

She scanned the room but couldn't see John; he'd been allowed to sit with Rodney for a while, but she knew Carson had threatened to send him back to his room to get some real rest. Earlier, she had stopped by and found John in a chair, slumped over on the edge of Rodney's bed. Before she'd been able to do anything, Dr Beckett had appeared. He bobbed his head in the direction of the sick scientist.

"He's fighting... they both are", and he turned his attention to the colonel, grabbing a blanket from a shelf and covering the lightly snoring man. John was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted. She knew that Dr Beckett had replaced his lost blood; she suspected it was, however, a poor substitute for his own.

Now, a couple of hours later, and Teyla's hoping that John has found some real rest.

Rodney was lying very still. There was no pillow under his head. Tubes seemed to cover his face, and machines crowded around the bed. His chest was bare, except for a small white bandage marking the spot where his injury occurred. He looked very sick, she thought, not just injured, but very sick.

"Went berserk with a candle sconce. Killed two, almost decapitated one", that was Ronon, standing against the door jamb, arms folded. His eyes were on Rodney.

"Did all that, with a four-inch blade in 'is lung... it's..", and as Carson slipped his penlight into his pocket, he shrugged, "incredible"

Teyla felt irritated somewhat by their lack of faith in her team-mate.

"I am not surprised", she announced, stiffly, "Dr McKay has a strength. It is not always my way to speak of such things, but I have never doubted him."

"Well, I don't go on missions so maybe I just don't see it. But the Rodney _I_ know..", and Carson's face clouded over, unable to continue, his last words almost a whisper, "What's he become?"

"He did what he had to do, Doctor... that is all.", she said firmly. Silence descended... she noticed Ronon was nodding, but Teyla felt it was time for a change of subject.

"Carson... where's John? I was hoping to speak with him", she asked.

"Colonel Sheppard? He's... gone, I'm afraid... held on as long as he could... he's in his room sleepin', I hope"

The shapeless lump under the bed covers lurched upwards, the tube of the breathing equipment whipped up and dislodged a tray of medication. Everyone in the room seemed to jump in alarm, and all eyes were on Rodney as he re-entered the land of the living.

Like a flash Carson had slid the tube from McKay's throat, announcing, "It's gone... breathe easy, now"

oOo

_"It's gone.. breathe easy, now", said Carson._

And then he was breathing on his own... it hurt; he sounded like a vacuum cleaner with a defective suck.

Blinking open his eyes reluctantly, he looked down at himself... my god, he was naked.

"Need... more shirts", he said, voice like sand paper. Whilst his eyes were closed in a long blink, he felt something cool at his lips and he slurped up a few ice chips someone had kindly offered.

Opening his eyes, a face loomed up... smiling, angelic, golden hair shining...

It couldn't be... could it? But it _was_...

"Marina... aqua Marina!", he breathed, awe-struck and at the same time wishing he'd got a shirt on... even the one with the hole in it. But then her face changed, as his eyes regained their focus; it wasn't his favourite underwater babe, it was Teyla.

Rodney couldn't help a brief moment of disappointment... hold on, though, what was he just thinking? It was important...

"Sheppard!?", he yelped.

"He's alright. Ye did good.", Carson came back, smoothly.

Talking was costing him dear, so Rodney tried to speak as economically as possible, like a telegraph message where you paid for every word.

"Bring 'im .. see 'im ... here..."

He was gasping in between words, still finding it hard to breathe. Someone was fiddling with his ears... his nose... get _off!_

One of those oxygen tube things that poked you in the nose and made you sneeze, now clung to his face. He was moving, too... folding up at the waist, and the two seconds-worth of disorientation made him want to retch. His head was wobbling crazily on his scrawny neck and he idly wondered if, when it snapped off, someone would catch it before it rolled away.

"John's sleeping right now, but he'll be along... Look at me"

Rodney's head wobbled around to the right as ordered, and he regarded the blurry doctor in silence.

"You had a serious injury, lad, but you're recovering well. Rest, now, that's the ticket..", and he smiled across at his friend.

Only then, when the doctor pulled away did Rodney see the others in the room; Teyla, still there and Ronon... and because he hadn't the energy to speak any more, he wobbled them a silent nod, and, to his delight, they nodded back.

oOo

"What happened back there... it was... amazing. Did you know what you were doing?"

Rodney's eyes fell on the tray in front of him. The sandwich looked tempting one second, nauseating the next. What was going on with him? He was hungry... he really was... but..

He suddenly realised he hadn't answered Sheppard's question, "Yes. Actually, it was very, very clear. I-I knew I couldn't do _nothing_, so I did _something_ instead.", he said, brusquely.

"Saved my life...", John said quietly, "I won't forget that.."

_Uh...oh.. not now.._

"Can we not talk about this? You're welcome and all that, but I'm... tired, you know... so..", he looked over John's shoulder pointedly, as if to show him the door.

"Oh... okay. See ya, then", Sheppard got up, giving him a puzzled look.

"Yeah, see ya ", he called to John's retreating back, _and take that God-awful sandwich with you_, he added to himself, and he let his head fall back with a sigh.

oOo

TBC I promise... Thanks for all the encouragement... x


	3. Chapter 3

_"I wish I was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive, I'd fly you 'round the universe in Fireball XL5"_

oOo

"What's all this then, lad? Janine get me a temp. Any pain? Trouble breathing?", asked Carson, his tone business-like.

"No... just feel sick...", was the sullen reply.

It had been three days since Rodney's surgery; three days since a knife had been removed from his chest. Carson was pretty pleased with him; no sign of residual infection, he was off the antibiotics. For some reason, however, he'd started vomiting - quite spectacularly, too.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in white scrubs. One of the infirmary staff was removing a covered basin; she handed McKay a damp wash cloth and clean basin. She passed Carson a clip board and he accepted it, nodding his thanks.

Well, temperature was normal... He stood back and took a good look at his patient. Rodney looked tired, which was to be expected, and a little pale; his eyes were dull, and he blinked slowly. He looked depressed.

"How do you feel?"

"Hungry. But, _that_.. ", and he pointed with distaste, at the bowl of soup and pile of crackers, on the night stand, "...and even the _thought_ of eating... makes me wanna throw up..."

"Well, maybe it's just a wee upset. We'll see how you go... I'll get you something to settle your stomach." He made a fuss of checking Rodney's dressing, and was about to go fetch the required medication, when he hesitated and looked back at him.

_The lad's not goin' to like this..._

"Kate's been by...", he began, carefully, and Rodney's eyes rolled.

"Yeah, right, 'obligatory chat with brain doctor', wondered when that would come up"

"She has to talk to you, Rodney, you know the drill. Maybe you can discuss this with her?", he said, hopefully.

"What? My _puking_? Oh, how nice, I'm sure she'll be enthralled..."

"Rodney! Did you not think this could be... well, something psychological in nature? I really think you need to talk about your... _experience_ with someone."

Footsteps sounded suddenly in the small space, and into the infirmary walked Sheppard, looking much better than he had. The doctor noted the smaller bandage now around his injured wrist.

"Colonel"

"Carson... How's the patient?" and Carson saw his eyes were drawn immediately to the small bowl Rodney clutched; he made a face, then looked warily at the scientist, taking a hesitant step back.

"Hungry... actually", Rodney whined.

"Rodney's having trouble keeping anything down", said Beckett, in explanation.

"Thought you liked this kind of food...", Sheppard had moved to the side table and was spooning up the now congealed soup, and sniffing it suspiciously. "You know, pre-packaged, tasteless, homogenized - sorry, doc, didn't mean it like that..." he smiled weakly and looked suitably sheepish.

As the colonel had been speaking Carson had watched as Rodney slid himself back into bed and was now burrowed down under the covers with his back to his visitors.

"Why don't you come back later, Colonel, and you can maybe take the lad out for a walk. Right now, we'll let him rest, shall we?"

oOo

"Come on" It was Sheppard, standing by his bed. He had Rodney's uniform jacket in his hand.

"Where?", he asked, bemused, as John threw the jacket around him. Suddenly, he found himself the reluctant passenger in a wheelchair.

"Out", was the simple answer, and the colonel trundled him towards the exit.

oOo

"How do you _feel_.. really?"

Sheppard was chewing on a brownie. Several food packs were open on the main control panel; MREs, power bars, crackers in shiny wrappers, all Rodney's favourites; the jumper was like a snack bar. Rodney was not eating.

"I feel different...", and Rodney shifted in his seat as if he was suddenly uncomfortable.

The view screen was full of stars, so bright that they illuminated the scientist's too-pale face. John hoped fleetingly that Carson would understand his little abduction. Rodney spent a lot of time being ticked off; a fair amount of time being miserable; but John had never seen him truly depressed... it was worrying.

"I'm ashamed.", he said in a small voice. Boy, did he _sound_ ashamed, thought John.

"I'm ashamed of myself because I killed those men, that I really _wanted_ them dead_... I'm a killer_." This last was said in a voice that broke in the middle, and there was disbelief and horror on the face that looked over at him.

Sheppard was quick to respond.

"No, you're not", he said firmly, shaking his head.

"What else does something like that make me?", came the angry retort.

There was silence, for a good few seconds; the soft, but busy, sounds of the space craft's systems the only thing that could be heard, then...

"Why did you - kill them, I mean?" Sheppard spoke calmly; but Rodney's answer was anything but calm. His tone was harsh, jarring to the ear...

"What kind of question is that? To save you, of course!" He hauled himself out of his seat and hobbled off to the back of the jumper, where he stood against a bulkhead, listing to one side. John rose and watched him closely, saying nothing. Rodney was turned away and John couldn't see his face. When he at last spoke his voice was thin and tired.

"They were going to murder my friend right in front of me. I couldn't let them do that... and I couldn't see a way out...any other way out..."

Sheppard watched as Rodney's head dropped down and a hand came up to scrub at his face. The scientist leaned even more heavily to one side and John took an involuntary step forward when he thought, for a second, he would have to catch the man.

A few more moments passed, again in silence.

Slowly John walked towards the back of the jumper. Keeping his voice deliberately low and even he said., "You _think_ that you wanted to kill them, but that's just not true. What you wanted was to save me, and you were prepared to do what was... _unthinkable_ to achieve that". His hand came down gently on McKay's bowed shoulders.

"I didn't know myself, John. Don't know what came over me...", Rodney sounded tired, defeated.

"You were injured... in shock..." as he spoke John reached up and pulled a blanket from an overhead locker.

"I've-I've changed..." Rodney transferred his weight to John's shoulder as the pilot draped the blanket awkwardly, around them both.

"Coming out here... you were bound to change, you knew that, right?" he said quietly. "It kinda goes with the territory. This expedition... it's dangerous, McKay... what can I tell ya?", and he walked Rodney, who was now weaving quite severely, back to his seat and sat him down. He peeled the blanket off himself and wrapped it fully around the scientist's shoulders. As he leaned in closer, he could see Rodney's face was pinched and weary.

"Back on Earth, I dealt with machines, not people; not life and death. Funny... I thought I didn't like myself _before_, but now..."

John reached behind his seat and drew out a water bottle. He handed it across, and Rodney took it with a hand that was almost steady.

"The man I remember from then, didn't know his full potential, that's all", said John.

Rodney raised his head.

"I guess... I miss that guy.." he explained simply.

They looked across at each other, for a moment, and John just said, "Yeah...", because what more could he say.

As they both turned to look out at the star filled blackness of space, he wondered if Rodney was thinking back to a simpler life, a more innocent one; and the pilot too, remembered how it was before p-90's, mine-fields and war-zones changed him forever, and thought, as he had many times before, _there's no going back._

John looked over to see that Rodney had begun rooting around in front of him. He tore open some crackers and started munching on them. Absently, he ran his other hand over the jumper controls.

"I know I pretend to be indifferent... but this... this flying a space ship thing... I _love_ it... seriously", Rodney said, sounding as if he considered it a guilty pleasure, and John found himself grinning at the admission. Suddenly, Rodney laughed...

"What's funny?"

"Ever see Fireball XL5? It was a tv show... saw it in England when I was a kid. I guess you'd be Steve Zodiac, the pilot. I'd have to be Professor Matthew Matic..."

"Are you making this up?"

"No... Well, this... this is a spaceship, right... so I must be a spaceman. Who'd a thunk it?"

"We better head back - Carson'll be wondering...", John mused, rolling his eyes.

Rodney, leaned back in his seat, arms folded carefully across his chest.

"When you spoke to Carson, where did you say we were going?"

"East Pier..."

"Oh..."

"D'you think they found the wheelchair yet?"

"Probably...", and the image of Rodney's abandoned wheelchair, standing where a jumper should have been, for some reason, made him smile.

"Alright, drive us home, Mr Spaceman..."

oOo

The End

Thankyou for your reviews, they kept me going... I took the liberty of having Rodney spend some time in England, as a child. Hopefully, not too much of a stretch that he has relatives there.

Also, if you want to know the references for the opening lines of each chap, here they are:

1. The Incredible Hulk tv series, David Banner's 'catchphrase' (Thanks to Valexie for reminding me of that one)

2. End theme for Captain Scarlet (may be heard on YouTube)

3. End theme for Fireball XL5(also available on YouTube)

x


End file.
